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After 40 days of practices, scrimmages, and preseason exhibitions, the Stetson men’s basketball team is finally set to officially open up the 2013-14 season this Friday. The Hatters will challenge Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN3.

Stetson swept a pair of home exhibitions during the preseason, defeating Tampa 61-59 and topping Palm Beach Atlantic 71-61. A total of 13 different Hatters, including six newcomers, saw the court during the two preseason contests.

New Head Hatter Corey Williams will make his head coaching debut in a familiar setting on Friday. An assistant under Leonard Hamilton at Florida State for the last six seasons, Williams will lead Stetson in challenging a Clemson team that the Seminoles went 8-5 against during his tenure in Tallahassee.

Stetson, which starts the campaign with eight straight road contests, is aiming to earn its first ever win against the Tigers on Friday. Clemson has won all six match-ups against the Hatters, the most recent being a 66-39 win back in 1998.

The Hatters have had recent success in season openers though, winning three out of their last four, which includes an 89-79 road victory over the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Wake Forest back in 2010-11.

Friday night’s tilt will be available live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app with Roy Philpott and Nate Ross on the call. Fans can also tune in to WSBB 1230 AM, WTJV 1490 AM, MyAM1230.com, or the WSBB mobile app to listen to the game on the Hatters Radio Network.

Live Stats will be available at ClemsonTigers.com, and fans can follow along with everything involving Hatters basketball this weekend by following @StetsonMBB on Twitter and Instagram. Signing up for the Hat-Alerts text messaging service will also get you in-game score updates and postgame stories.

Broadcast Note: ESPN3 and WatchESPN is available to fans who receive ESPN's linear networks as part of their video subscription from Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Verizon FiOS TV, Comcast Xfinity TV or Midcontinent Communications, Cablevision or Cox Communications. The app is available free to download for Android devices from the Google Play store and Amazon Appstore and for Apple devices from the App Store, as well as online via WatchESPN.com.